Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board No-cook food

The past couple of years, on my three-day, two-night trips up Whitney, I've brought my Gaz stove and cooked freeze-dried foods for lunch and dinner (which I actually thought were pretty good). This year, in an attempt to reduce some weight, I'm thinking about leaving the stove and fuel at home. Anyone have recommendations for foods for lunches and dinners that taste good, give me the nutrition I need for a three-day weekend climbing in the Meysan Lakes canyon, and do not require cooking? (please, no power bars, or anything else that tastes like sawdust :-))

Several things that I tend to carry for lunches, if not dinners...

1. Tortillas. High-density compared to other breads, don't need refrigeration. Lots of carbs, some fat (unless you buy the fat-free variety)

2. Peanut butter. Spread on the tortillas and rolled up. Protein and fat, a few carbs.

3. Hard/dry cheese. Monterey Jack will keep for a couple of days, hard cheddar even longer. Can be sliced and rolled in the tortillas or eaten plain. Protein and fat, some carbs.

4. Hard salami. The kind with the moldy "skin"...keeps several days without refrigeration even after you've started carving on it. Lots of fat and protein.

5. GORP..."good old raisins and peanuts"...my favorite mix consists of equal parts of plain M&Ms, dry-roasted peanuts, raisins and granola. Heavy on the carbs, some protein and fat. Mostly use it for trail snax, but makes a passable dessert in a pinch.

I could survive on those for a couple of days before I got terminally bored and wished for some pasta or other freeze-dried stuff.

Plus, for the first night's dinner, carry up a Subway or other deli sandwich...avoid the mayo, use mustard instead and it will keep through the day.

I can see doing a two-day itinerary without a stove or fuel...at least during the summertime...

I have tried those albacore pouches mixed with small packets of mao- the kind you steal from fast food places & relish-stuffed into pita bread for tuna sands. String cheese and ham - ( now in the pouch too ) eaten the same way with those small packets of hot mustard. Be sure to carry out your scraps though. And like previously mentioned peanut butter stuffed into those plastic tubes you buy ar REI always tastes good anytime on crackers or pita. Must even be good on tortillas too. You can never miss with Salami and cheese and those little packets of Italian dressing.

On a two day backpack with no stove we brought only an assortment of candy bars, snickers, milky way, 1000 grand, paydays, with some granola bars etc.

We also took Carnations Instant breakfast drink for the three main meals, breakfast lunch and dinnner. Each pouch mixes with 8 ounces of water. Take a 20 or 24 ounce plastic container. Put in a little water. Dump in 2 pouches, 1 cup evaporated milk, shake and then fill up to almost the top with water. A nice break from other things.

One box comes with multiple flavors...so we had strawberry one meal, vanila one meal and chocolate another.

On a longer 3 day trip, having a stove might be worth it. You kind of miss warm meals after a few days.

Peanut butter filled pretzels. Trader Joes or Harry & David. Especially good for nausea, which I have trouble with above 12 thousand feet. The salty pretzels settle the stomach while the PB provides good nutrition.

Thanks for the suggestions, folks! Kashcraft, you are right, it's nice to have a hot meal, but the wait will make Doug's burger and fries that much better!

fROZEN PIZZA
should last at least a day if its well cooked.
I prefer Amy's organic.

While I usually bring my stove with fuel, anyway, I've tried to save using cheaper grocery store food, which weighs more, but costs far less. When I'm in Bishop, I stop by Vons and get canned meats, such as spam, corned beef, or liverwurst. Tuna fish will do as well. I then get a loaf of bread or a big sack of dinner rolls, or sourdough bread, then make sandwiches. This takes up room in your pack, but I usually tie a big food bag outside my main compartment to hold the space-consuming goodies.

For your first night, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, radishes, and all, make a nice fresh salad. A garbage bag makes for to mix these up inside, to have a big salad for everyone. Try to insulate these, with pile clothes, on your way up to base camp. If it's at altitude, it usually is cool enough so that these will remain cold.

On a slightly off-season camp at Lamarck Col, I brought regular frozen food (cream peas with butter, Green Giant or some brand) which still have to be cooked, but taste so much better. Frozen food is a bit lighter than canned.

A frozen steak then thawed-out and cooked over a grill atop a campfire worked out really well for me a few times!

Canned corn, peas, or other veggies will weigh, since they have water, but you can drink that along with the foods. Ditto with canned fruit.

Of course, my pack may weigh 50+ pounds to start, but if it's a short way to base camp, it all works so nicely. Then, I disdain the usually tasteless or even horrid $8-10 freeze dried entrees, since they cost so much. In the past, instead of a $50 bill for dehydrated foods, I'd spend maybe $15. I enjoy the exercise from a heavy pack, as I see it as weight training. But if your companions are all going light, then faster, this won't work too well.

I also vote yes on the hard salami! I like gallo dry salami with the moldy skin. Another thing that works well for me is cold cut sandwiches. I make several sandwiches before I leave home but on multi-day trips I don't spread any mustard or mayo on the bread when I make them. I put a packet of mayo or mustard in the zip-lock baggie with the dry sandwich. Those little snack bar packets of condiments don't need to be refrigerated. Then when I get the sandwich out my pack the fresh condiment is right in the baggie and hasnt made the bread soggy or spoiled. On day 2 or day 3 a home made sandwich really hits the spot for me.